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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



264 words match “MOTIVE”

HINT n.
a suggestion or reminder, without a full declaration or explanation; also, an occasion or motive. Our hint of woe Is common. Shak. The hint malevolent, the look oblique. Hannah M
HIRELING n.
One who is hired, or who serves for wages; esp., one whose motive and interest in serving another are wholly gainful; a mercenary. "Lewd hirelings." Milton.
HONORABLE a.
e, or directed to a just and proper end; not base; irreproachable; fair; as, an honorable motive. Is this proceeding just and honorable Shak.
HORSE n.
-- called also horsehoe vetch, from the peculiar shape of its pods. -- Iron horse, a locomotive. [Colloq.] -- Salt horse, the sailor's name for salt beef. -- To look a gift horse in the mouth, to examine the mouth of a horse which has been received as a gift, in order to ascertain his age; -- hence, to accept favors…
HOSTLER n.
The person who takes charge of a locomotive when it is left by the engineer after a trip.
HYDRO-AEROPLANE n.
that enables it to travel on, or to rise from the surface of, a body of water by its own motive power.
HYPOCRISY n.
does not feel; a dissimulation, or a concealment of one's real character, disposition, or motives; especially, the assuming of false appearance of virtue or religion; a simulation of goodness. Hypocrisy is the necessary burden of villainy. Rambler. Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue. La Rochefoucauld (Trans. )…
IMITATION n.
polyphonic composition; the repetition of essentially the same melodic theme, phrase, or motive, on different degrees of pitch, by one or more of the other parts of voises. Cf. Canon.
IMPEACH v.
mpropriety; to dishonor; to bring discredit on; to call in question; as, to impeach one's motives or conduct. And doth impeach the freedom of the state. Shak.
IMPEACHMENT n.
A calling in question as to purity of motives, rectitude of conduct, credibility, etc.; accusation; reproach; as, an impeachment of motives. Shak.
IMPEDANCE n.
logous to the actual electrical resistance to a direct current, being the ratio of electromotive force to the current. It is equal to R2 + X2, where R = ohmic resistance, X = reactance. For an inductive circuit, X = 2pfL, where f = frequency and L = self-inductance; for a circuit with capacity X = 1 ÷ 2pfC, where C = c…
IMPENETRABLE a.
, as to knowledge, reason, sympathy, etc.; unimpressible; not to be moved by arguments or motives; as, an impenetrable mind, or heart. They will be credulous in all affairs of life, but impenetrable by a sermon of the gospel. Jer. Taylor.
IMPRESS v.
e mind; to present forcibly to the attention, etc.; to imprint; to inculcate. Impress the motives of persuasion upon our own hearts till we feel the force of them. I. Watts.
IMPULSE n.
A mental force which simply and directly urges to action; hasty inclination; sudden motive; momentary or transient influence of appetite or passion; propension; incitement; as, a man of good impulses; passion often gives a violent impulse to the will. These were my natural impulses for the undertaking. Dryden.…
IMPULSION n.
Influence acting unexpectedly or temporarily on the mind; sudden motive or influence; impulse. "The impulsion of conscience." Clarendon. "Divine impulsion prompting." Milton.
INCENTIVE n.
has a tendency to incite, to determination or action; that which prompts to good or ill; motive; spur; as, the love of money, and the desire of promotion, are two powerful incentives to action. The greatest obstacles, the greatest terrors that come in their way, are so far from making them quit the work they had begun…
INCITATION n.
That which incites to action; that which rouses or prompts; incitement; motive; incentive. The noblest incitation to honest attempts. Tatler.
INCITEMENT n.
That which incites the mind, or moves to action; motive; incentive; impulse. Burke. From the long records of a distant age, Derive incitements to renew thy rage. Pope.
INDIFFERENCY n.
fter all, consist in a power of indifferency, or in a power of choosing without regard to motives. Hazlitt.
INDUCEMENT n.
That which induces; a motive or consideration that leads one to action or induces one to act; as, reward is an inducement to toil. "Mark the inducement." Shak.
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